


Stranded

by Sashetha



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Character(s), Alien Planet, Alien/Human Relationships, Eventual Smut, M/M, Science Fiction, Size Difference, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Worldbuilding, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:28:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23097862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sashetha/pseuds/Sashetha
Summary: The last thing Orion had expected when he'd taken up a position as a mechanic on Bravo 13 was for it to malfunction and him to only narrowly get away in a dingy little escape pod. Luckily, the thing somehow manages to survive crashlanding into an alien ocean. Not so luckily, he's now stuck floating in said alien ocean. Alone.... Except, well, he soon discovers the latter might not be entirely true.Alternative blurb: A guide to what not to do if you crashland on an alien planet
Relationships: Original Male Character(s) & Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 13
Kudos: 68





	1. crashlanding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scarlet_Claws](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Claws/gifts).



_ Error in navigation system: Unable to read coordinates. Error in navigation system: Unable to read coordinates. Error…i...coo…tes…  _ The escapepod’s audiosystem began flickering into static. Orion could feel the layered metal walls cocooning him shaking as if they were little more than paper. It didn’t feel real. Yet here he was cometing through the atmosphere like a sentient raindrop.

_ Protocol……acti…landing …  _ The system managed to utter before once more failing. Orion could guess the parts that had been cut out. Only the seconds went on and the landing system wasn’t activating. The pod was malfunctioning. His hands were shaking as he clutched the side of the seat. He could feel sweat running down his neck. His breathing was sharp and uneven. 

A sudden jolt caused something to dislodge from the wall. He didn’t get a chance to see what it was, before it knocked him out.

When he, despite all odds, woke up again it was to the buzz of the broken audiosystem. Orion groaned. His forehead was throbbing painfully. He reached for it gingerly, but to his relief whatever bleeding there was had long since dried into a solid crust.

“Fuck…” He groaned again. Somehow he was still alive, but that didn’t mean things were going to stay that way. The world around him was swaying. At first he’d thought it was all in his head, but as his sense of direction gradually returned he realised the pod was indeed moving.

Orion undid the harness fastening him to his chair, and stumbled forward into the darkness. The pod was only about four and a half meters across so it didn’t take him long to find the wall, where he began fumbling for the button which would hopefully turn on the light. Along the way he nearly stumbled over a seat and a couple things he had a feeling shouldn’t be laying loose on the floor, but eventually he’d found the button and the faint light flickered on. He let out a breath of relief. It seemed despite the Ai malfunctioning, some of the pods systems were still in place. How many exactly remained to be seen though. But first things first. “The med-kit….” He found it on the floor, where he’d priorly stumbled over it. One of the rounded corners was faintly bloody and the irony of it didn’t escape him. It hadn’t been the only thing dislodged during the decent though. Strewn around the floor he also saw two heavily dented shelf doors, a couple fire blankets and an extinguisher.

Inside the medkit were basic supplies and nine vials of all purpose nanobots. Not the most up to date kind, but all things considered still pretty nifty. After skimming through the warnings and contents on the back of one he rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and injected the vaguely red liquid into the artery on his left arm. With the proper precautions mind you. He wasn’t about to survive a crash-landing on an alien planet, only to die because he’d injected an air bubble into his bloodstream. Further, it’s not as if their effects would be instantaneous either, so he still had to clean himself up with antiseptic gel and plaster the gash up.

Next he stood up and began looking through his surroundings in earnest. There were some dents in the walls and shelves, where the medkit and fire distinguisher had done their damage, and the communication transmitter seemed to have suffered as well, but to his relief he found the small sign labled “distress signal” still flickering with a soft green glow.

The rest of the shelves and equipment seemed to be in an alright state. Between the three foldable seats positioned along the walls he found the pods computer, a microwave and the door through which he’d initially entered. Above and along the circular walls were some protruding shelves, though predictably two were wide open. On the ground and along some empty wall-surfaces were inbuilt storage units as well, however the oval ground hatch he opened out of curiosity turned out to actually be a rudimental toilet.

The computer, while a bit on the older side, and with a somewhat cracked screen seemed to be working fine too. It was automatically set to show the external diagnostics first thing it opened, so whoever was in the pod could quickly asses their situation.

The outside sensors detected only moderate radiation levels. The atmosphere too was surprisingly similar to what he might have found back on the colonies. Roughly 70% nitrogen, almost 25% Oxygen and around 4 % water vapour. It was a relief, but to confirm his suspicions Orion found the settings which managed the opacity of the windows and lowered it on one of them.

The engineer presumed they’d been programmed to stay dark during the decent to keep whoever was trapped inside from seeing the inferno caused by the friction outside. He combed through his short, brown hair as he saw a blank, black spot on the wall turn into a blinding white light. He hadn’t realised how dim the lights had been when he’d turned them on, but it sort of made sense too. After all, he’d yet to set up an external power source, so all his little terrarium had to operate on was its stored battery life. He’d have to check exactly how this would last him later. For now however he was content with peering out the window, where he only found the shimmering surface of a calm, teal coloured sea.

The colour was a good sign. It implied there might be some sort of simple photosynthesizing life on the planet. Which in turn opened the possibilities for other, more complex lifeforms. But to make any judgements Orion would have to check the waters carbon content and then possibly investigate things further…That is, if life here even was carbon based. He’d heard about silicone being a suitable substitute, in certain rare cases. The latter, of course, wouldn't help him at all. 

Most importantly however, he needed to take stock of his resources. He imagined a long-range distress signal had been sent out before the ship’s evacuation signal, but for all he knew the nearest ship could be anywhere between a few days or months away.

“Oh, Orion, if only your mother knew what you’d gotten yourself into this time…” His voice shook a little more than expected, but there was something comforting about the lack of a similar response from the reinforced carbon that made up his legs.

The engineer shook his head and turned his attention back to the computer where he began looking for a supply registry. The software the pod operated on was predictably a bit outdated, but after skimming through it he had to give props to whoever designed this thing. Sure, it was sort of mismatched, likely assembled from less than expensive parts, but it was functional and they’d managed to cram a surprising amount of supplies into a fairly small space. Most importantly about twelve 10 liter jugs of water and dehydrated rations of various kinds which he imagined could last him about three months if he was frugal. Maybe longer, given his cybernetic legs only required a power outlet, which he readily found beneath the machine.

Then there were a couple water filters and distillers, both of which he made a mental note of testing out later. Protective suits, bedrolls and an change of clothes each, predictably matching the number of seats in the pod, some basic hygiene products, waterproof rucksacks with a selection of tools and survival equipment, including another straw-like filter, and a solar powered UV-C light he could use to disinfect his equipment and himself. The latter wasn’t as effective as a liquid or gel solution, but well, if the nanobots did their job he would in time adapt to the local viruses and microlife, given gradual exposure. That was, if life was present. As much as he hoped that was the case, he knew not to get ahead of himself. 

Lastly, to his great relief he found some foldable solar panels and wind powered turbines. Which admittedly looked kind of shoddy to a trained eye, but so did most things around him and at least it meant he had a powersource to fall back on if he managed to set them up. 

Now that he knew he had a chance of making it out of this alive he felt a lot lighter at heart. This didn’t have to be the end of him. ”I’m alright…This is fine.”

Orion began cleaning the mess on the floor. Luckily most of what had been inside the shelves had been strapped or boxed in some way that kept it in place. He looked through the shelves and various compartments. Not thoroughly, but it gave him a good idea of where everything was stored.

When he’d he found the sleeping bags he’d made himself a sort of makeshift bed along the wall, opposite of the see-through window, unzipping them all and using two as a mattress while leaving one on top to be a sort of duve. One of the water jugs was then lifted from its place beneath a hatch in the floor, and from the rations, which were stored above the seats he picked out a silvery packet of lumpy yellow powder which was meant to dissolve into something akin to chicken soup. He added the water to it, before closing it back up and placing it into the microwave.

The machine came to life with a subdued hum and for a moment Orion was left with nothing to do, but listen.

He couldn’t remember what the last word’s he’d exchanged with his friends had been. At the time everything had been so mundane he hadn’t actually made note of it. Probably something inconsequential along the lines of “See you later.” His brows furrowed a little. He’d never have guessed it could end up being a lie. But if he’d only barely survived his landing…how many others had not? No fuck that, how many had still been stuck on Bravo 13, while…whatever happened took place? He’d been on break when he’d heard the evacuation signal and that had been why he’d reached the escape pods so fast. His cabin was right beside a cluster of them. In fact, what if he’d left too soon?  _ What if _ someone had been left behind without a means of escape because of  _ him _ ? Or what if…it had all been some sort of mistake, and he’d been too quick to act?

Orion’s breathing was beginning to quicken. His chest gradually tightening, until it felt like his heart had no room and was ready to lurch out of his throat.

“Fuck… Fuck!.. FUCK!” His fist landed on the wall.

He hadn’t thought about it in the heat of the moment. Been too scared to realise the implications of everything. The potential consequences of not…thinking.

A distant ping told him the food was ready. He didn’t want it anymore.

He wanted to scream. But what was the point if there was no one out there to hear him?


	2. babysteps

He hadn’t managed to sleep at all that night. Having grown up constantly surrounded by people and activity there was something acutely unnerving about suddenly finding oneself alone... With only the sound of his own breathing and the constant caresses of the waves, making him think of all sorts of horrors that could be lurking beneath the ocean-surface.

Eventually, once the sun had begun to peek out from the horizon, and through the window, he’d felt brave enough to get up and attempt running some further diagnostics on the situation outside. It didn’t show him all of the relevant information, but in the end he decided it was safe enough to allow the air system to try and filter in some oxygen. Which realistically it should have been able to handle even under more hazardous circumstances.

Only, regardless of how hard he prodded at the screen the air filters refused to activate. Which is when he decided to troubleshoot and the true extent of the problem reared its ugly head. Most of the Ai programming had become inexplicably corrupt the moment the pod had come to life, and along with it some of the programming of the pods functions and information as well. Luckily it was to a lesser degree, but it explained why he’d woken up to complete darkness and been forced to adjust the window opacity manually. Regardless he wasn’t happy with waiting around while his oxygen was slowly depleting, but outside of opening one of the entry hatches without the proper precautions he had no alternatives. 

He wasn’t  _ that _ desperate just yet. For all he knew help could be arriving within the next few days and the good people at Bravo 13 could be laughing their asses off at him. He wasn’t about to risk chemically burning his lungs or catching some alien flu over it.

After some digging in the computer Orion was relieved to find out he had about enough power to last him a little over a month. He could have perhaps guessed as much though, seeing as that was exactly how long the rations divided by the available seats would last. This didn’t change the oxygen situation, however, and by day fifteen the air had become uncomfortably damp.

Orion no longer had the energy to do much of anything, but to be fair he could only have re-read all the instructions and manuals on the pods computer and recount his supplies so many times before it stopped chasing off the boredom.

He now slept most of the time and when he didn’t, he usually did some form of daydreaming. Either imagining he was somewhere else, talking to people who weren’t there or fantasizing unabashedly about those individuals he was glad  _ weren’t  _ there to see it. Like a lunatic, he knew, but frankly he did what he had to  _ actually _ stay sane, and imagining hunky, raspy voiced vice-captain Lawrence was there to comfort him did a good job of keeping him sane. Even though Orion was well aware he barely knew the guy and was probably imposing a…less than realistic personality onto him. What did it even matter? he was probably dead by now. Like just about everyone else he’d cared for or encountered for the past four months…Had he known he’d at least have tried asking him out for coffee beforehand. Speaking of which, he’d found some in his rations. It had even stayed that way for maybe an hour before Orion gave into temptation and began brewing it.

He kind of regretted the decision now that the smell of sour coffee mixed with sweat lingered in the humid air, making it even less bearable and he couldn’t even ignore it by falling asleep.

In the end Orion lasted for a total of twentytwo and a half days before he gave in and first opened a hatch in the ceiling. It hadn’t been for long, just enough to take a couple quick inhales to see how he’d react. Common sense, despite his less than ideal state of mind, hadn’t completely eroded after all. He knew help could still be right around the corner, but frankly, no offence to Lawrence, he was kinda tired of jacking off to him. 

In the end this first shambling step towards the unknown would prove to be one of many. Before Orion knew it, he found himself sticking out of that hatch, mounting solar panels on top of the convex surface. Seeing the battery having increased by a couple percentiles by the end of that day, rather than decreased, had been unreasonably satisfying.

“Okay, so maybe mounting a couple cheap solar panels isn’t the peak of ingenuity, and I’ve read the instructions over so many times I practically know them by heart, but you gotta admit I did well today. “ He chirped away at his fantasy lover when he’d gone to bed that night. And well, maybe he found out he wasn’t  _ that _ tired of jacking off to Lawrence, just yet.

The next day Orion found himself so emboldened by this recent success he proceeded to set up and test the water systems, and well, that’s when he’d first gotten close enough to the water to see the first signs of actual life. It had been surprisingly shallow. Only about eight meters at the deepest, and the water was clear enough to make out large, bulbous, red, white and pink growths at the bottom, somewhat similarly to coral reefs. Between them he could also occasional see the flicker of movement, although it was hard to make out what it was or the size of it. 

“I can’t believe it…”

Both the water filter and distiller were working well, though the filter was significantly faster so in the end Orion had removed the distiller entirely. Each time he’d enter the pod, lights installed around the opening would uv-treat him to help reduce contaminates, but just to be on the safe side he repeated the process carefully with the smaller handheld device from the rucksacks.

The real treat was yet to come though. Inside he cut out the corner of a towel, got himself a bar of soap, a small comb and lastly a folded razor of the old variety that outlaws always seemed to use in movies. Though admittedly the latter looked a bit more flimsy, it did make him feel rugged in a nice way. 

“Time for some much deserved selfcare…”. 

Climbing up the ladder he’d unhinged from the ceiling was a bit awkward because of the constant swaying and the supplies he carried. He preferred doing it that way though rather than risking a wave flooding through the floor level entrance. Even if those rarely ever reached past the bright yellow, inflated rings which encircled the pod and helped with its buoyancy and stability. Speaking of which, he was grateful he’d at least been spared from waking up in a pod that was upside down. In fact, didn’t one die if one stayed that way in a gravitated space for too long? Orion pondered while finding himself reminded of that one time he’d seen two kids compete about who could stay on their arms the longest. With how red their faces had become he didn’t have a hard time believing the factoid.

The worst bit though was undoubtedly where he had to climb down another on the outside of the wall. He’d nearly slipped the first time he’d attempted it. 

Admittedly this made him a little nervous about being so close to the water. The rings had some sewn-on flaps that would allow him to theoretically climb back on  _ if  _ he ever fell, but frankly they sort of blended in with the rest of it and had definitely cut into the palm of his hand when he’d tried to tug at one earlier. Furthermore, the idea of losing his footing and slipping into an alien ocean, filled with all matters of foreign material and god knew what else wasn’t exactly appealing in the first place either.

When one particularly rough wave had made him grab hold of the ladder however, he came to remember something he’d seen under one of the floor hatches. He’d failed to make sense of it initially, but it consisted of about eight metal tubes horizontally connected by thick wire with some fastening carabiners at both ends. Now that he though about it, it could be a special type of ladder. He’d just have to secure one of the ends to the bottom of the ladder welded into the wall of the pod. 

But that could wait. He switched on the water filter. A rounded, box shaped device secured to the side of the pod and the power supply, which in turn contained a pumping device that was connected to a sort of rubber tube, with a filtration device at the end, and another extendable tube with an adjustable spigot, currently coiled around itself in a compartment above it.

He looked over his shoulders and scanned the water for dangers, before he began undressing. Somewhere in the depths of his gut he felt a bit like something was watching him. Waiting for that inevitable moment when he’d leave himself exposed and prone. Which wasn’t exactly a new feeling. Leave a person stranded alone in the middle of an alien ocean and you can expect paranoia to be par of the course. But that was all it was: paranoia. He reminded himself that this wasn’t his first time on the outsides of the pod, and look, here he was. Still alive and kicking. No reason to give up on a much needed shower because of some irrational, albeit persistent, heebie jeebies.

He washed the formfitting, black jumpsuit and underwear first, using the soap and filtered water as best he could before wrenching them out and throwing them up by the solar panels where they could dry. Of course, this wasn’t as good as a proper washer, but he hoped it would at least make them wearable again. He then proceeded to wash himself, which felt absolutely heavenly. He could practically hear the angels sing as the soap dissolved layers upon layers of dead skin, sweat and grime and the cool filtered water carried all the dirt away. He repeated the entire process a couple times, while combing through his hair and using the smaller piece of towel to scrub the parts that needed it. Then, once he’d foamed up some soap and  _ somehow  _ managed to shave his face without cutting himself up, he finally felt like a fucking person again.

The filter was packed up after use, so it’s hoses weren’t left exposed to the elements, and then he climbed up the ladder and just sat down for a moment basking in the hot rays of the sun. Like an overgrown lizard, Yuno and Jacob probably would have teased him, if they had been there to see him. By the time he felt dry his clothes were still damp, so he left them there while he himself returned the pod, which after some airing out, had finally stopped feeling like a stinky sauna.

Like always, he then proceeded to treat himself and whatever he’d carried inside with the UV-C, but he did so rather impatiently today, eager to get a hold of a small mirror, he’d earlier found hidden away with the toiletries.

He hadn’t realised he’d been smiling gleefully until he saw himself, but when his eyes landed on the happy and clean face that looking back at him his smile only widened.

“Oh, you handsome looking bastard you…” He murmured. It kinda felt nice to hear the sound of a human voice. Even if it was just his own. 

He hummed a melody as he put on a fresh set of clothes before picking out a ration packet he hadn’t tried yet, labelled “couscous and beef”. Dinner seemed to taste particularly tasty that day and he laid about thinking about the following day for a long time before he went to sleep.


	3. slipping

With the air, power and water situations having been taken care of Orion felt a lot more at ease. The nanobots were also doing a good job of keeping him alive so far, given the young man had shown no sign of illness or poisoning. Quite the opposite he actually felt reasonably good and was sort of getting used to how things were out here. 

Not to say he didn’t still regularly check on the distress signal to make sure it was running, but he’d kind of come to terms with his regrets and begun to accept the existential dread that came with being stuck alone on an alien planet. Which didn’t mean he wasn’t scared, but well, he’d at least accepted his mortality and that this was his life for the time being, regardless of how he felt about it. 

  
Truthfully, these were the conditions under which his species had originally evolved. No advanced technology, carefully crafted colonies or space crafters. Only their own two hands to rely on and a vast world filled with unforeseen natural phenomenon, predators and diseases. So if they had somehow managed not to lose hope while faced with such hopeless odds, he’d have to manage too somehow. 

“So...let’s see if we can fix that ladder.” He cracked his knuckles. 

Orion found the thing beneath the hatch with his water supply and the sanitary gel he’d used to clean his hands before his meals, when he didn’t have the patience for the UV-C treatment...And well, he was a little bit of a germaphobe. Orion could admit that much. So it felt good to have something more substantial to rely on before touching his food.

The ladder was surprisingly heavy against his shoulder. He guessed it was so it would stay taught while suspended. 

When he’d first opened the hatch and climbed outside something felt a little off. Like usual. So he shrugged the feeling off once more and proceeded to climb down the side of the pod… Only to stop on the last step as his eyes landed on the empty space between the solar panels.

“Dammit!” He barked, realising too late he’d forgotten to bring in his clothes back inside. 

Except, as soon as he’d stepped off the ladder his left leg landed on a bundle of something wet. It slipped out from under him and he lost his footing, barely managing to twist himself in a way that landed him on the buoyant encirclement, only to bounce right off despite his best efforts. His eyes went wide and mouth agape in what would have turned into a terrified shriek if it wasn’t quickly drowned out by bitter water. 

Within the blink of an eye the waves had swallowed him up. 

His eyes stung. He couldn’t see anything. His heartbeat was pounding rapidly in his ears. He wasn’t sure which way was up and which way was down, until he felt something dragging him down. He began kicking and struggling against it. His leg hit metal. That’s when he realised it was the weight of the ladder, tangling him up. He tried to calm down. Remove it one bit at a time...Ignore the thick cloud of sand which had formed beneath him, as he was nearing it. The feeling of something large shifting.

Fuck. He’d looked down. Just in time to see a freakishly large, segmented tail slide past him and disappear into the sand. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. A voice in his mind was screaming. The ladder was still stuck around his legs. He could swear he felt something tugging at it. When his eyes caught more movement beneath him his blood turned to ice. Hand. There, blurred within the cloud he saw it. A huge, clawed fucking hand emerging from the cloud of sand and reaching for his legs. 

Had it not been for a small part of him still fighting to keep the air in his lungs he might have screamed out loud right then and there. Instead he kicked at it before the monster had a chance to grab hold of him. This somehow allowed one leg to slip out of the tangled cord. But the other refused to come loose. So with no remaining alternatives, he did what he had to do. Click. Slide. Shove. The mechanism that held the prosthetic in place was undone.

Somehow he managed to get to the surface. First thing, inhaling sharply, a mixture of saltwater and air burning his lungs. He coughed. The pod was a blurry mess a few meters to his left. He threw himself towards in and in a vain attempt tried to clamber back on. His hands kept slipping. There was nothing to grasp onto. He heaved. Feeling for the handles. He couldn’t see them. Godammit.. 

His chest was tightening. Heart racing. Then he felt the palm of his hand slide over something familiar. Fingers clambered for purchase. Hoisting himself up with adrenaline fueled strength he did not know he possessed. 

The ladder. Where was that damned ladder. He crawled along the yellow encirclement, desperately trying to feel for it. When he found it it felt slippery, but it didn’t matter. His grip was like a vice and despite having lost a leg he was soon back to safety...where he consequently collapsed and just heaved for what felt like a small eternity. 

Fuck. He’d nearly died. How much seawater had he swallowed?..Was he going to die now? Because he’d fucking swallowed alien water. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. He crawled to the latrine. Numb, slippery fingers smearing the hatch red as they struggled to open it. He hadn’t realised he’d gotten wounded while hoisting himself out of the water. 

Click. The hatch opened. He reached his insides out. Again and again, until there was nothing left to throw up and the bitter taste of bile was all that remained in his mouth. He barely had the sense of mind to close the hatch again, before dizzily crawling towards the medkit by the wall. His eyes were teary, but he was beginning to see straight enough to guess which packet was the disinfectant gel. He smeared it generously over his hands. Between his fingers. Tried, covering it up with bandages, but realised in the end he’d have better luck stopping the bleeding by clutching a tovel. 

He looked around himself. The floor was wet and only getting wetter as the water kept dripping off him. He cursed under his breath. Found an empty water container, removed the lid, and then undressed before hastily placing the contaminated clothes inside. Then grabbed another towel, wiped himself and the surrounding area as best he could and in the end shoved it as well into the container. A couple sanitary packets were emptied into the mix as well, before he grabbed more and smeared himself with the stuff. UV-C was too slow for comfort, but he’d use it to treat the floor later. Before that though, he’d probably chewed up about eight toothpaste pills, while brushing his teeth like his life depended on it. Because for all he cared, right then and there, it really did. 

  
“Morning really turned into hell in a basket, huh…” Orion whimpered hoarsely to no one in particular. 

“Yeah…” He heard a familiar voice reply after a long pause.

Then there was another one before it spoke again. 

“I’ll go grab us some lunch. You look like you could really-”

“No!” He interrupted. ”Please...Stay for a while longer.”

“You sure you don’t want something to eat?..”

“Yes...I’m sure, Yuno. Please just stay for a moment. I need a friend to talk to.” He closed his eyes. For a moment he was back in his cot. The young woman in the doorway was smiling, but it didn’t mask her concern.

They kept talking for a long while.

He ended up not eating that day. 


	4. face to face

The waves had been tall and vicious that night. So much so that at times Orion worried the solar panels would have been washed away by them. Still, it took him no small amount of courage the morning after to actually scale the ladder and peek outside so he could confirm they were indeed still there. Albeit with a pale salty sheen he’d have to clean off if he wanted them to function properly. 

Despite his apprehension at climbing outside, he understood the most practical solution was to wash them off by using the water filter, rather than wasting his drinking water. He leaned forward, peering down to where it should be secured a little hesitantly, but to his relief the white box was also still there. However, beneath it his eyes fell onto something which positively should not have laid there. That folded ladder...with his right leg… carefully placed on top of a wet bundle of clothes. 

  
For a moment he just stared at it with a blank look about his face, before he silently retreated back into the safety of the pod, closing the hatch behind him with a heavy  _ thump _ . 

_ Nope. Nix. Nada. No way in hell _ he was going down there now. It was definitely a trap and the thing that had made it  _ fucking  _ had  _ hands _ . Also a chilling level of cunning, of course, beyond the level of a normal animal, but, well, frankly it were the hands that freaked him out the most and he didn’t have to justify it. 

  
“Talk about a creepy level of convergent fucking evolution…” He laughed nervously. First thing first though. He needed to see if he could do something about the windows. There were only two of them, not counting some smaller windowed surfaces on the entrances, all of which he had lowered the opacity on all to allow more light inside. Now if he was lucky...Yes! There was an optional one-way setting which should hypothetically keep him hidden while allowing him to still see the outside. Cause frankly, the idea that he’d not merely  _ imagined  _ he was being watched over the past few days was...bloodcurdling. The young man shuddered, praying the function would be among those still intact. No real way of finding out, outside of going out and seeing for himself, but well, he’d already established that  _ that  _ wasn’t going to happen any time soon. And from now on he would definitely keep an active eye on the windows.   
  
“Like a- MOTHERFUCKER!” He nearly screamed when he saw a large pale face looking back at him, from one of the smaller surfaces, at the door. It took him a moment to realize its beady black eyes weren’t actually focused on him, but rather...darting around. As if it...couldn’t see anything. Which could only mean one thing. The one-way setting was working - to his relief. 

He sighed, eyeing the alien creature he guessed to be the culprit from yesterday. It looked surprisingly humanoid from what little he could see, however there were some notable differences. Among them: Its face was segmented in an almost insect-like fashion. Above its eyes were a second, smaller pair. The bridge of its nose was also far wider and sturdier than a human’s, and almost crested in a way? As it tapered off into a narrower, flatter nose a bit like that of a snake. It’s mouth too reminded him a bit of a snake, or possibly even a cat, with that triangle shaped gap between its dark upper lip, partly mirrored by the lower one as well, where the structure continued down a dark line along its chin, where two plate segments met. Protruding from between it’s lips were also a pair of narrow, tusk-like structures, except they and the teeth visible between the rombe-shaped gap between its lips were coal black and shiny, like it’s eyes. Orion shuddered, reminded somehow of an old thriller he’d once stumbled across while hopping channels. The quill-like structures hanging down from its head were only partially visible in the small opening, but from what he could see colored the same, while the smooth, horn like growths along its forehead, cheekbones and to a lesser degree even the angle of its jaw faded into a gradual red.

“God...you’re creepy.” Orion muttered breathlessly, even if it had become more than apparent that the walls were practically sound proof. “Or perhaps creepy isn’t entirely the right term?” Because it didn’t look repulsive per say. Quite the opposite, there was undeniably something beautiful about it. A familiarity to it’s proportions. Except, of course, in Orion’s humble opinion that only served to plant the thing firmer into the uncanny valley. 

He let out a shaky breath, shuffling a little closer, despite his primal instincts telling him not to.

He’d known there was fauna here. He’d known this thing to be a part of said fauna... And yet there was something entirely surreal about standing there, face to face with it. Even if he knew all the other saw was the shiny, reflective outer surface of the window. 

Seeing it’s brow area furrow and eyes squint one could almost be forgiven for assuming it was confused. Realistically though, Orion understood the organism wouldn’t have likely evolved to communicate in the same way a human would. Even if it had somehow landed at a, at least superficially speaking, remarkably similar body plan. 

“I guess it’s even a stretch to assume you  _ think  _ like I do…” Orion mumbled as he saw the creature move away, only to reappear in one of the windows, eyes still darting around aimlessly. It kept doing that around all the windowed surfaces, and Orion couldn’t help, but feel like it knew its way around them a little too well. “...Yeah, no, you’re definitely creepy.” 

Still, if it knew him and his pod so well by now it surprised Orion that it had waited so long to strike. Realistically, it could have grabbed him by the leg at any moment he’d been outside earlier. There was no way Orion would have seen that coming. If it was as smart as he thought too, it would have known he wasn’t aware of it’s presence. Furthermore, it didn’t seem all that uncomfortable outside the water, even if its movements were a bit clumsy at times. Almost as if it overestimated the density of the air around it. He’d even guess, from the way its chest moved, that it possessed some lung-like structures.

It was when it eventually gave up and dove back into the water that he saw the rest of it. Now granted, only for a split second, but that was enough to make out its more or less humanoid upper half and it’s not so humanoid lower half. If one could even reasonably call them halves. Because frankly, the multicolored, centipede-like lower segment had to at least have been five times longer than it’s torso. Which mind you, was a big torso. Even to Orion, who was a respectable six feet tall and all things considered, in far from a bad shape, albeit a bit on the slimmer side...probably more so now that he’d spent about a month atrophying in the pod. 

While still holding onto the wall for support, the young man sunk down into a seated position. He hadn’t realized it until the creature was gone, but he’d been holding his breath.    
  


He kept watching over the next few days and it seemed the creature soon fell into a sort of routine. It would crawl out of the water and rest on the yellow floater early evening and similarly leave early in the morning, while occasionally returning sometimes around the midday mark to just linger about, basking in the sun. It seemed after having confirmed there was nothing to be seen through the windows throughout the course of the first day, it gave up on that bit of its earlier habit entirely. 

Honestly, Orion almost grew used to seeing it around after the first week, though he guessed it didn’t linger around when he couldn’t see it. After all, it still had to eat  _ something  _ while waiting to make a snack out of him. Or, at least he assumed it did. It hadn’t brought anything back to the pod, but it didn’t exactly strike him as the kind of predator that sustained itself on the occasion, larger meal and otherwise lived a sedentary lifestyle. It seemed quite active and resembled more a clever opportunist. After all, who needs smarts really, if they are seated comfortably in one stationary niche? But then again who was  _ he _ , a humble mechanic from a little rural colony, to make judgements on something as complex as alien anthropology? He rolled his eyes. Yeah right, anthropologist or not, he at least knew enough to make some educated guesses. 

He ended up spending another week in hiding, before he decided to work off said guesswork and risk opening the ground level entrance, so he could let in some fresh air and get a hold of his things. That was, while hoping his things, most importantly his leg, was actually still there. The weather had been mellow, but he couldn’t really tell from any of the windows at the time. In fact their positioning, even put his alien neighbor mostly out of sight. Only way he could tell the other was lingering about at those quiet moments was a peek of his segmented lower portion through the windowed surface at the door, which while only a thin rectangle across its middle, extended for most of its length. 

It seemed luck would for once be on his side though. He had to crawl for a bit to reach it, but found everything more or less as it had been left. Soggy and kinda smelly, but...in surprisingly good condition, he’d later realize, once he actually took the time to inspect it all while cleaning up his leg and disinfecting and shoving the rest somewhere he wouldn’t have to worry about it. The prosthetic had no scratches, no dents. In fact, absolutely nothing, but the salt that encrusted it revealed what it had gone through. 

Once in place, it didn’t feel much worse for wear either, and It felt good to finally be able to stand properly again. Even if, having mostly crawled around for the past two weeks seemed to have worsened his coordination slightly. Orion didn’t waste any time, climbing out the top entrance and with the counterweight to his upper body restored, it was easier to anchor himself to the opening, by his legs, so he could lean out over the side of the pod and reach the water filter without actually having to climb out fully. A bit like a hermit crab, he realized while he was hurriedly hosing down the panels, eyes glued to the surface of the surrounding sea, which still showed no end in sight. 

  
His heart nearly jumped out of his throat when he later looked back and actually saw a hint of red among the waves. Immediately, the hose was dropped and the entrance slammed shut behind him. 

“Okay one thing at a time, one thing at a time…” He’d gotten his leg and the solar panels were mostly washed off. Further, he still had one clean spare set of clothes and enough air to comfortably hunker down for another two weeks if he had to. That is, using the word comfortably very loosely, of course.

Besides, he could have just imagined it. It didn’t have to have been that freaky alien in the water. It could have been something entirely different.  _ An even freakier alien _ , that little paranoid voice in the back of his mind retorted. He shook his head. _ No, no, no _ . Just some overgrown red  _ coral  _ he’d floated into. Completely harmless and- 

“God fucking dammit, are you for real!?” He saw the familiar form of the creature appear in one of the windows, once more trying to peer inn. “You know this is a  _ human  _ rescue pod, not  _ free  _ alien real estate.” Orion groaned out loud, even though he knew it couldn’t hear him. Much less understand what he was saying. 

  
It tapped on the window. 

Yeah, no doubt about it now. It knew he was there, even if it couldn’t directly see or hear him. And, sure the tap might have been cute if say, a dainty little alien mermaid had done it, but alien-sea-centipede-man over here was anything but cute. Orion shuddered. “I’m not falling for your tricks.”

It paused for a moment, attention shifting to something at its side. It fiddled with it until, suddenly the window was hit with a stream of water.

Orion jumped back, until he recognized what it was.

He saw the nozzle of the hose he had dropped come into view, as the creature peered down at it curiously. “Okay, not cool, don’t touch that-”

It put it in its mouth. 

  
“‘EWW! NO! THAT’S DISGUSTING! YOU FREAK!” The look of absolute terror on Orion's face was unmistakable, as he could only imagine the immeasurable quantity of alien germs in the thing’s saliva. He had a turn away. 

“I hate you so much…”

When he turned back he saw the nozzle was gone, though it wasn’t much to his relief, seeing as the damage was already done. 

The creature by then had returned its interest to the window. Once more tapping one of it’s dark, clawed fingertips. Which, now that he got a closer look he realised there were only three of. Not because of morphology, but rather...it looked like something had bitten them clean off at some point. Save for the obvious  _ lack _ or digits it wasn’t easy to notice, but there was definitely a subtle change in texture, which indicated scar tissue. And now that he knew what to look for he saw a lot of it, scattered all over its arms, chest and even bits of it’s throat and face. Orion tried not to dwell on the behavior and environmental implications said injuries may indicate.

It kept tapping, though the young man recognized now the movement wasn’t even, but rather in some sort of rhythm. 

It probably didn’t even realize Orion couldn’t hear it. Yet, knowing the thing kept doing it somehow alone made the fact unbearably annoying. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap...Tap. Tap-tap. In his mind he heard it. Even when he tried to look away and ignore it. He  _ felt  _ the thing’s presence. It’s  _ intent _ . Short of climbing out and throwing something at it, he saw no way of stopping it however. 

That was...outside of giving it what Orion assumed it wanted at this moment. Which was a  _ reach _ , to say the least, because for all he knew, it could just be attempting to lure him out. However…

He walked up to the controls, and found his way to the window configurations. 

It  _ couldn’t  _ hurt him, so long he stayed inside. And he could change the setting any time he wished later, even if he chose to let it see him, so really he didn’t have much to lose. 

He glanced back at it, still tapping the rhythm at the window, and sighed. “I must really be getting delusional to even consider this...” Reading too far into things? Seeing intent where there was none? Merely imagining that  _ it  _ was somehow attempting to...communicate with him. However, there was one thing he knew for sure. “You could have killed me before...” Yet it didn’t, and the more he’d considered that simple fact and looked past his own fears, the more he recognized that him getting out of the water in one piece...more or less, had unlikely been a coincidence. 

His hand hovered over the screen as he contemplated his choice. His chest rose and fell slowly as he closed his eyes. Then, after what felt like a small eternity, finally felt his fingertip connect with the screen. 

When he’d opened his eyes again and turned around he saw the tapping had stopped. And those inky eyes...all four of them, were looking directly at him. 


End file.
